Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a liquid supply member for a liquid ejection apparatus, such as an inkjet printing apparatus, and more particularly, to a manufacturing method which molds and assembles a plurality of components of a liquid supply member in a mold.
Description of the Related Art
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-178538 discloses this kind of manufacturing method. In the method, for example, two components forming a hollow body are formed at different positions in the same mold by injection molding (primary molding). After the mold is opened, one mold which holds one of the two components slides to a position where the two components come into contact with each other, relative to the other mold holding the other component. Then, the mold is closed so that the two components come into contact with each other to form the hollow body. In addition, a molten resin flows to a contact portion to join and seal the contact portion, thereby forming a sealed hollow component (secondary molding). According to this technique, it is possible to simply manufacture a liquid supply member.
However, the manufacturing method disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-178538 brings the molded components into contact with each other and joins the molded components by steps of a mold opening operation, a mold closing operation, and a single die slid operation between the opening and closing operations. Therefore, basically, the method molds and joins only two components. That is, it is difficult for the above described method to meet the manufacture of a liquid supply member including three or more components.